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ABOUT EXPRESSIONS OF THE BLUES
Expressions of the Blues is a collection of painted portraits of Blues, R&B, Soul and Gospel musicians. The artists I’ve chosen to paint are people whose music and story truly inspire me. I have seen many of them perform which has given me the opportunity to photograph and video them. I have been lucky to share conversations, friendships and a common love for the Blues with some of these artists. I am trying to create an emotion in these paintings. I want the audience to really get the feel of the artist in the piece through the brush strokes, color, expressions in their eyes and on their faces. Please take the time to check out these Blues artists and experience their inspiration.
“Playing the blues is nothing I found, it found me. I have been doing so long, I just do it. When I play and sing it’s like painting a picture with live people in it. I have fun and amuse myself with the paint and sound; I think that’s what folks enjoy about my blues, I play it in a mix color way. ” — “Brotha Ric” Patton, Sr.
“You’ve got to put hard work in to get something out of it. It don’t come easy. I do a lot of miles and there’s a lot of sleepless nights." — Michael Burks
“Music titled ‘Blues’ is a way to express the way one lives or feels when words just don't say enough.” — Blind Mississippi Morris
“The blues hasn’t died at all. It lives on in the young musicians like myself and others. Whenever we pick up our instruments, we’re just carrying on the traditions of our ancestors that started the music. I’m just glad to keep it going.” — Sean “Mack” McDonald
“I’m so happy and grateful for the job that I have had for the last 35 to 40 years and that’s playing music. Love to all the people who supported it and thank you for the opportunity. The only other thing I could pray for is more longevity.” — Larry McCray
“Main thing is I just don’t hear my kind of music anymore so I just wanted to put that out there. I didn’t have to do this. I could have stayed retired — I’m 87 years old — but I’m just trying to come back one more time.’" — Willie Cobbs
“The Blues isn’t just music, but it is an emotional genre that extends through all the other genres. It’s something we all experience every day, and it never goes away. Sometimes it is happy and joyful and other times is sad and disheartening, but the blues is something felt by all of us even if we don’t know what it really is. Overall, The Blues is something that has to be felt to be truly understood.” — Phillip D’Anthoni Stackhouse
"Don't plan on dying. Plan on living. Dying will take care of itself." — CeDell Davis
“Keep the blues alive. Pass it on.” — Lucious Spiller
“The blues is an amazing genre of music where people can express their emotions through song.” —“Six String Andrew” Sullivan
“I’m truly blessed. With music we can go anywhere we want to go. I’m free when I play music – everybody else is free with music.” — Mookie Cartwright
“Blues music is Africa's gift to to the world as channeled through the hearts and struggles of African American people. But its spirit and soul are universal to the human experience and live beyond geographic boundaries and racial divisions. It is the expression of humanity's soul.”
“Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I'm happy with that.”
“Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.”
“I don't want no drummer. I set the tempo.”
“There ain’t nothin I think better than the blues in my life. The blues represent what it represent when I was a child. Cause it never changed and I never changed. I love the blues. It’s just like medicine. I love the blues like mama love her baby child.”
“There’s one thing no one can take from me... that’s my passion for the Blues. Because the Blues is in my soul’.”
“Changing the world one Blues song at a time.”
“The blues is nothin' but life.”
“If you ain’t living the blues, you ain’t singing the blues.”
“I’m a firm believer in making a song my own.”
“The blues gives me an open door to love what I'm doing for the world...it's my light in the dark when I'm down.”
“As time pass, you progress whether you tryin’ to or not. Down through time, it applies to everybody: The more you work at it, the better you gotta get.”
“To me, blues music is a universal cathartic expression of the human condition. I know where it came from. But, I don’t care who you are, anybody can feel it.”
“The blues is the roots of American music and it’s great to explore the roots.”
“Blues is a good Feeling that expresses how we live where you been and where you’re going.”
“See, I have a different type of music from other peoples. They playing the other kind of blues, and I'm playing cotton-patch blues... Ain't nobody now can play the blues that I play.”
“So, as long as I can, I want to go around the world trying to send satisfaction to people. Doing that is a great feeling to me.”
“I want to be known and as big as B.B. King throughout the whole world. I want everyone to know about this kid that can play the blues as if I was there when it was made, and to show that the young kids can do something with their life.”
"The blues is the basis of all modern music and it has changed my life forever. I don't know where I would be without it.”
“Well Lord, I'm still on the case. I'm still doing what Dr. King and Pops want me to do. I'm still on that freedom highway, and I’m going to walk on it until Dr. King's dream is realized.”
“I stone got crazy when I saw somebody run down them strings with a bottleneck. My eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and I said that I had to learn.”
“Music was kind of like a medicine for me. ‘Cause when I was depressed, I picked up my guitar and I practice and I practice and I say I’m going to get better and I’m going to play until I fall asleep or play until my fingers hurt and I can’t even feel the pain anymore.”
“It's bad you know.”
CAROL BOSS
Carol Boss, born and raised in a small town in south-central Missouri, has been a St. Louis resident since 1995. Before fulfilling her dream of becoming a full time visual artist in the fall of 2016, Carol was a successful digital illustrator and photography retoucher, as well as manager of Big George Brock. The decision to become a full time visual artist was made after upon meeting Sharon McConell-Dickerson along with a series of events that made her feel like she was being led to paint full time. Most of Carol’s time is spent with her family, making art and seeing music. She is known for several larger painting projects such as the musician wall mural at HWY 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen in Webster Groves as well as Big George Brock’s Blues Bus. Carol has always had a profound passion for painting and music, and she often combines the two. Influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh’s vibrant use of color and harsh brush strokes, Carol’s painting style is typically realistic in shape with bright accents of color. Her paintings often tell a story. Her most recent works focus on hope and the blues. When asked about her art she simply says, “I’m a painter.”